Renting Gear

[VegasLow08 0]

I tried searching the forums for my newbie question but did not have any luck. How much does it cost to rent all of your gear? Do you pay per jump, or for the day? The only way I can foresee myself being able to afford this hobby is if I can rent my gear. I think I can get through the $2K for my A license, but no way I can afford the $3-4K for used gear.

With law school coming up soon, I need every penny I can get! After graduating from Columbia I will be able to buy a dz!

Thanks

[Morrison79 0]

It varies DZ to DZ how much they charge to rent a rig. At my home DZ it is $25 pr jump or $50 for the day. The problem when you rent is that you may have to share the gear with other people/students.
So you may not have that gear for the entire day.

You should atleast get your own basic gear.
Helmet, alti, googles, jumpsuit, ect....

[brettski74 0]

How long is a piece of string?

Gear rental varies from place to place, both in pricing and terms.

Some dropzones will rent you gear on a per jump basis. Expect to pay somewhere between 50% to 100% of your jump ticket price in gear rental costs - per jump. For example, at my home DZ in Canadia, a jump ticket is $35 and student gear rental is around $28 (I think) in addition to that. Basically, renting student gear comes close to doubling the cost of your jump. This kind of deal is more common for student gear. In general you're renting a complete system and the price probably includes the pack job when you're done, since it's student gear and you may not know how to pack, yet.

Some dropzones also/alternatively rent gear by the day. This would be more typical for sport gear and most likely you'd be packing it yourself. The container may or may not have the main already hooked up, so you may need to do it yourself of pay someone at the shop/loft to do it for you if you're not able to do that yourself. I've never rented a complete system on such terms, although I have rented a main canopy this way to try it out. This will probably work out cheaper than student gear rentals, but it's still going to be more expensive than owning your own. Off-hand, I can't recall what I paid for a rental main canopy for the day.

Either way, if you want to know what gear rental costs, your best bet is to contact the dropzone where you plan to jump and ask them. That way, you'll know whether they have much available and what they charge. Bear in mind that many dropzones may only have student gear for rental, that they may only have a limited number of rigs, and that this may mean waiting while someone else is using the rig that you want. Given the limited number of rigs that may be available, some dropzones may be unkeen on you continuing to use their student gear ad infinitum when they have students wanting to use the gear.

If you think you're really serious about getting into skydiving, you will want to buy your own gear at some point. It's just so much cheaper and easier that way. If you're jumping reasonably often, your gear will pay for itself within the first year or two. If you're not jumping often enough for this to be true, then I would suggest waiting until you finish law school and can afford to buy your own gear and jump a little more often. You'll get a lot more out of the sport that way.

[simplechris 0]

I would say from my experience to do anything you can to buy your own. You can buy good used gear for a fraction of the price. It's hard for me to find used gear because I'm so tall and skinny so I just broke down and ordered a new container. I still rent though while I am waiting for it and it gets frustrating. I have gradually downsized through the student gear to get to the size that my container is being built for but sometimes students will have to use the rig I am jumping. I bounce between a 220, 240 and 260. Another thing with the student gear is that your only supposed to fly on your belly so it kind of limits your playing around. I jump at both DZ's in Houston and at my home DZ its $50 a day for rental. The other DZ is $25 per jump. My Infinity should be here next month though so I'm not sweating it too bad. Good luck on you "A"

[councilman24 36]

You can get reasonable used gear for less than $2000. You may need to be dialed in with an EXPERIENCED instructor or rigger to put it together and would include a used AAD that you have to be fast to get. But it can be done. A rig not suitable for freeflying can be even less. If it goes a $100 jumps your way ahead, even without resale.

Renting gear puts one more limit on your jumping; weather, time, airplane, money, and then gear availability.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Andy9o8 0]

Quote

After graduating from Columbia I will be able to buy a dz!